The Canal du Centre

Once back from our trip to Marseille we set out along the Canal du Centre.

Canal du Centre lock and cottage

It is a pretty canal mainly through agricultural land and also passing through some of the more southerly  Burgundy wine areas. In the past there was manufacturing also, established around mining activities in some of the bigger towns. The area around Genelard, for example, provided many of the paving stones used in Paris and also had a big steel works. Coal mining was important in Montceau-les- Mines and the towns nearby. The Canal at that time carried the products of those industries and was very busy indeed. Now it carries mainly pleasure craft. All locks after the entry lock from the Saone River are unmanned. A lock- keeper roams up and down the canal in a car and checks  where each boat is stopping at the end of the day and when they want to set out the next day. Inside the lock, one must pull a cord to initiate the filling or emptying. The system worked very well on the way to the summit at Montchanin. On the way down we had a few problems when the lock would not operate (the roaming keeper then attended) and through Montceau where there are three lifting bridges which are supposed to be initiated by pulling a cord at the first, but we waited half an hour for anything to happen. Finally it came good for no apparent reason. Still, in many hours of travel these were minor inconveniences. The Canal was quite busy with boats, at first with Hotel barges and throughout with private and rental boats.

As we had been along this canal in 2011 we tried to visit different places. One was St Leger which at first seemed inhospitable. The Post Office lady told me that she did not sell stamps and no alternative was offered even though I said it was urgent; then the bank's ATM was closed so we could not withdraw money. The next day we fared better: instead of asking for stamps David simply stated that he wanted to send these letters to Australia- the postal lady took the letters and presumably franked them. The Bank had reopened its ATM. There was even an optometrist to straighten Penny's glasses. There was no charge- it seems that optometrists operate on an international life-time guarantee for simple frame adjustments.

Town square in Santenay
At the pretty wine town of Santenay, in the middle of the Cote de Beaune wine area, David picked up a local paper which had an article on the new rubbish dump. It is very modern, with computer component recycling, green waste and many other innovations which are similar to the excellent one near us in Australia (which won a National award for recycling efficiency). As well as the information about the new "Déchèterie", half a page was devoted to the signs designating the place. The spelling on signs for the previous dump was "Déchetterie". Signs for the new one are spelled "Déchèterie". Clearly anticipating a spate of complaints about the spelling being wrong or people simply being amused about the mistake, this article explained that the new spelling has been prescribed by l'Academie Francaise, the body which looks after the finer details of the French Language. In France, correct pronunciation really matters. The article went on to list all other words with two ts ending in "erie"- there is only one other (billetterie) and presumably the Acadamie would like to fix that one as well! From the article, we also learned that the word "poubelle" (meaning rubbish bin) was named after Eugene Poubelle who was a Prefect of Paris. We had always found it a marvellous word but did not know its origin. So, the world of rubbish and recycling can be very interesting indeed.

The Dheune River

The popular fountain
At Santenay there is a drinking water fountain on the very popular bike path next to the Canal. We wonder if it has magic properties because very few of the locals pass without stopping to fill up water bottles or just have a drink. Maybe it is simply the only one for many kilometres; certainly it is much appreciated.  

We were looking forward to re- visiting the Museum of the Demarcation Line at Genelard. On June 22nd 1940, an armistice was signed between France and Germany which divided France into two parts, "Free" France (South of the Vichy line) and "Occupied" France. The Canal du Centre here was initially part of the boundary between the two. A major guard post was set up at Genelard to prevent movement between the two sectors, though this was not always successful as many children had to cross the line each day to get to school; some farmers had fields on both sides of the line; the local doctor frequently had to cross it to attend to his patients and most difficult perhaps, the Church was on one side and the cemetery on the other. There were all sorts of opportunities to smuggle people from one side to the other, though of course this was no without great risks. The Museum was set up on this spot and conveyed very clearly the difficulties of daily life in this frontier town. Sadly it has now been closed, so we were glad we had visited four years ago. Instead there are excellent information panels throughout the town which related its history, going back to Roman times.

Traditional Burgundy glazed tiles
We were surprised to receive an email from the Railways (SNCF) with a detailed survey to assess how well we thought they had informed their customers when our trip home from Marseilles was interrupted by a fatality at the main Lyons station. The survey explored many aspects of the response and gave plenty of opportunity for suggestions and comments. It really seems that they are keen to maintain or improve the current high rail usage.
And so after a week we reached first the pretty town of Paray le Monial then Digoin, where the Canal du Centre ends and the Canal Lateral to the Loire begins. The temperature had reached over 30 degrees so we were very pleased to take advantage of the avenues of trees lining the Canal once we left each of the town centres.

Best Regards,

Penny and Dave

Canal du Centre at Paray de Monial